Christmas Stocking Tutorial

So here goes, my first EVER attempt at a tutorial... so grin, nod, applaud if you will, but more importantly bear with me whilst I iron out the kinks ;)

Personalised Christmas Stocking Tutorial

Christmas is fast approaching us, and here is a nice little Christmas craft project to fill up an afternoon.

For this project you are going to need the following:

• 1/2 m of fabric for the front (you made need at least a meter if you have a printed fabric so that the print runs the right way.) 
• 1/2 m of fabric for the back (you could either have a contrasting colour or keep it the same as the front)
• 50 cm of Ric Rac (or lace/ribbon etc) in a contrasting colour
• scrap of Calico big enough for the name plate

Step One: Cut Out Stocking

First things first, you are going to need a stocking template. I used my brothers childhood stocking because it was on top of the decoration box and also has a really nice shape. You could free hand a stocking shape or pick up a cheap stocking from your local $2.00 shop to use as a template.

Lay your fabric on your cutting surface with right sides facing each other. Pin template/pattern to fabric and cut out, making sure to also cut a seam allowance.

The green boarder you can see here is how much seam allowance I gave myself - I also add an extra few cm's to the top so that I can give it a nice hem at the end.

You should have two pieces now, a front and a back.

Step Two: Cut out name plate


Next you need to cut out a piece of calico for the name plate as wide as the stocking where it will be placed and its height can be as big as you want/need it to be. Remember to add on a seam allowance to the height so that you can hem it before attaching.

Step Three: Decorate Name Plate

Now you can decorate your name plate - I embroidered mine and the Prince chose two iron on appliqués from the local craft store., but the list is endless in what you could do. Applique, fabric paint etc. When decorating it, remember about the seam allowances and try not to decorate in that area or you will lose some of your design when you put it together.

Step Four: Hem and Attach Name Plate

Next step is to hem your name plate on the longest sides, I do this just simply by ironing over the sides.

Place your hemed name plate on the right side of the fabric you want for the front of your stocking. Lay your ric rac (or other decorative ribbon) along the top and bottom of the name plate and pin in place...

Sew along the ric rac (making sure that you are catching the name plate underneath as well) 

Step Five: Sew Stocking together

With right sides facing pin the stocking together and sew. (remember to leave to top opened, or santa won't be able to fill it up ;)

I then like to go around the edges in a zig zag stitch to give it a longer life. You could also use an overlocker, but I was to lazy to drag it out of the cubboard ;)

Step Six: Hem Opening and attach hanging string

Your stocking is almost complete. Now you need to hem the opening. I fold over the hem once and iron in place and then fold the edges under, iron and pin in place.

Sew hem in place, remembering to keep it neat because you see the hem stitch on the outside.

Next grab some of your left over ric rac, fold in half and sew to the inside seam of the stocking

Step Seven:

Turn in the right way, iron to shape and tadaa, your own personalised Christmas stocking. Now that was easy wasn't it. If you have any questions or you feel as though there is something that I need to add to this tutorial comment below. If you use my tutorial to make your own stocking, I'd love to see it.

Join us for our next Christmas tutorial in a few days until then, stay smiling :)